Differences in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two”

Every time a new Harry Potter movie comes out, I like to do this column. It’s always been a lot of fun. However, this one will be a bit bittersweet, because this will be the last time I get to do it.

In case you’re wondering, yes I did go to the midnight show on Thursday night/Friday morning, just like I was at the midnight sales for the last three books. I have been particularly impressed with both the books and the film series, because both have been done so consistently well. Oh, I know there are people out there who will disagree with that statement, but this is my column. (You’re free to make your comments below. Feel free to point out anything I missed.)

Warning: here be spoilers! Although, I admit that there’s not as many spoilers this time, because this episode followed the book fairly closely. In a bit of shorthand, I will be using the abbreviation “HRH” to refer to the trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Side note: I always wondered if author J. K. Rowling deliberately styled that trio to have those names and to use that abbreviation. Because “HRH” is also an abbreviation for “His Royal Highness” in the case of the King, or “Her Royal Highness” in the case of the Queen. (It’s also possible that I’m over thinking this, but what the hell.)

Crabbe (read on EW.com that the actor playing him got busted for marijuana use and was replaced)

Oliver Wood

Nearly Headless Nick

Peeves (never saw him throughout the entire series, darn it)

Missing/deleted scenes:

HRH planning with Griphook on how best to rob Gringotts

Dean Thomas is not at Shell Cottage

Remus Lupin visiting Shell Cottage to announce the birth of his son and to name Harry godfather

Bill Weasley taking Harry aside to warn him about double dealing with goblins

The use of the Imperious Charm on Travers

The items in the Lestrange vault had the Geminio curses, but not the Flagrante (making them burn to the touch)

The dragon did not appear to be blind

After jumping off the dragon’s back and into the lake, HRH changed into regular clothes, not robes, nor do they drink any pumpkin juice

Voldemort does not encase Nagini in a bubble to protect her; nor does he go looking in his Horcrux hiding places

The Death Eaters in Hogsmeade do not send dementors after HRH after they set off the Caterwauling Charm

Alberforth Dumbledore does not argue with the Death Eaters in Hogsmeade, nor produce his Patronus (a goat, as opposed to Harry’s stag)

Aberforth does not discuss Rita Skeeter and her book with HRH, nor the circumstances surrounding Arianna’s death

HRH do not have the argument with Dumbledore’s Army about fighting Voldemort and the Death Eaters in the Room of Requirement

The members of Dumbledore’s Army and the Order of the Phoenix do not arrive through Aberforth’s pub, nor does Neville use Hermione’s coins to signal them

Percy Weasley does not join the group, nor is there the argument that Ginny must stay in the Room of Requirement while everyone else goes to fight (Percy is seen in the Great Hall during the break in the fighting)

Luna does not take Harry to Ravenclaw Tower to see the statue and lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw

Harry does not confront the Carrows in Ravenclaw Tower, nor does he meet Professor McGonagall there

McGonagall does not confront Professor Snape in the hallway, nor do they fight, nor do Professors Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn show up to help

Slughorn does not get cold feet at the prospect of confronting Voldemort

All of the students do not assemble in the Great Hall in their night clothes, nor is there a discussion about underage students being sent to the Hogs Head in order to escape the coming battle

Harry does not go looking for Nearly Headless Nick in order to find The Gray Lady

Hagrid is not thrown through the castle window by Grawp

Ron does not suggest that the house elves be warned about the impending battle in order to escape, subsequently leading to his and Hermione’s kiss

Harry does not send Ginny out of the Room of Requirement so that he can change it into the place where everything is hidden

Harry does not find the lost diadem on top of a “battered old wig”

The fight between HRH and Malfoy’s group has a lot less discussion

Crabbe is the one who set off the Fiendfyre Curse, not Goyle (and died in the flames)

Ron and Hermione do not share a broom when escaping the fire

Hagrid is not taken prisoner by the spiders

The scene where Fred is killed is not shown

Voldemort does not go to the Shrieking Shack

HRH do not have to fight off dementors to get to the Whomping Willow

The flashback scenes of Snape’s memory that Harry sees in the Pensieve are not as detailed (takes up a whole chapter in the book); i.e.: there is no scene where he reads Lily’s letter to Sirius

When going out to confront Voldemort, Harry does not encounter Neville, or confide in him that Nagini must be killed

While covered with the Invisibility Cloak, Harry does not see Ginny on the grounds of Hogwarts, comforting a scared girl; in fact, he doesn’t seem to be carrying the Cloak at all

After talking to the ghosts of Remus, Sirius, Lily and James, Harry drops the Resurrection Stone right away; they do not accompany him to meet Voldemort

Dumbledore and Harry do not discuss Dumbledore’s sordid past involving Grindlwald and their dreams “for the greater good”

Voldemort does not use the Cruciatus curse on Harry after Dumbledore and Harry’s meeting

Neville does not charge Voldemort when they bring back Harry’s body; nor does Voldemort summon the Sorting Hat and set it on his head, setting it afire

Harry does not disappear underneath the invisibility cloak

Harry and Voldemort do not confront each other in the middle of the Great Hall (in front of everyone else) during their final battle

Luna does not provide a diversion so that Harry can slip under the invisibility cloak and find Ron and Hermione

HRH do not go to Dumbledore’s office and meet with his portrait to discuss the victory and what to do with the Elder Wand, nor does Harry use the Elder Wand to repair his own wand

Percy isn’t at the train station in the epilogue

Changed/modified scenes:

Harry and Griphook trade insults during their initial discussion

Harry accuses Ollivander of lying to him about what he told Voldemort

Travers does not accompany HRH into Gringotts

Harry does not know what the Horcrux is when they get into the vault; he “hears” them whispering to him

Bogrod the goblin banker gets roasted by the dragon

Griphook is among those killed when Voldemort hears about the break-in and the theft of the Horcrux; the stolen sword of Gryffindor disappears from his grasp (poetic justice, of a sort)

Dean, Luna, Cho Chang and Ginny are all in the hideout in the Room of Requirement when HRH arrive; they should have arrived after HRH via Hermione’s coins

Colin Creevey uses the radio to alert the Order of the Phoenix to HRH’s return to Hogwarts

Harry decides right away to tell everybody that they’re looking for something to stop Voldemort; but he has no idea what it is, nor what it looks like

Snape assembles the students in order to interrogate them about the possible whereabouts of Harry; who steps out of the crowd and accuses him of the murder of Dumbledore, whereupon a wand battle breaks out between him and Snape, with McGonagall assisting Harry (my favorite change in the film)

McGonagall tells Filch to take all the Slytherins “down to the dungeons” to the applause of the other Hogwarts students

Molly Weasley is standing next to McGonagall when she calls upon the statues of Hogwarts to defend the castle (She has a good line here, telling Molly that she’s “always wanted to use that spell”)

Luna chews out Harry when he won’t listen to her about how to find the Gray Lady

Ron and Hermione have their kiss in the Chamber of Secrets after Hermione destroys the Horcrux (maybe it’s just me, but Ron’s hair hides Hermione’s face as they kiss, making me wonder if it “really” happened)

Voldemort appears to suffer pain as each Horcrux is destroyed, sending him into greater madness (Harry feels the pain as well)

Blaise Zabini accompanies Malfoy and Goyle into the room where everything is hidden; not Crabbe (see note above on Crabbe in the Missing/deleted characters section)

Harry asks Malfoy why he didn’t tell Bellatrix that it was him when HRH had been brought to Malfoy Manor

Goyle seems to be having trouble getting his wand to stop spraying fire; he later falls to his death in the flames

Voldemort goes to the boat house instead of the Shrieking Shack

Snape’s tears serve as the memories that Harry captures to pour into the Pensieve

Snape tells Harry, with his dying breath, that he “has his mother’s eyes”

Aberforth casts a Patronus charm to chase off the dementors

Neville expresses his affection for Luna to HRH

Snape actually enters the house after Voldemort has killed Lily and James, holding Lily’s body as baby Harry looks on

Ron and Hermione chase Harry down the stairs as he is leaving to confront Voldemort; he tells them that he is the seventh Horcrux, noting that Hermione probably already knows that

In the dream sequence, King’s Cross Station does not gradually solidify; nor is Harry naked when he shows up there, nor do robes magically appear when he thinks about them

Voldemort shoves Bellatrix to the ground after casting the Killing Curse on Harry, saying that he “does not need her help”

Narcissa Malfoy does not feel Harry’s chest to check for a heartbeat; she just whispers into his ear, inquiring as to whether Draco is alive, to which Harry imperceptibly nods

Voldemort, gloating over the death of Harry, invites the students to join him and the assembled Death Eaters; Draco steps forward at the insistence of his parents, and Voldemort embraces him

The Malfoys quickly exit behind the Death Eaters, with Lucius looking furtively over his shoulder

Neville makes a speech about going on despite the loss of Harry and all of the others, then attempts to attack Voldemort; Harry uses the diversion to escape the Death Eater group, electrifying the Hogwarts crowd and inciting Voldemort’s fury

Voldemort begins to chase Harry, with the two of them running throughout the wreckage of Hogwarts; Harry grabs Voldemort and pulls the two of them off a cliff; Voldemort uses his apparition powers to fly them both all over the castle, finally winding up in the courtyard alone, their wands pointed at each other in a blaze of light (my least favorite change; I liked the idea of the confrontation happening in front of everyone)

Ron and Hermione attempt to use basilisk fangs to kill Nagini; Neville wakes up from a daze and manages to chop off Nagini’s head with the sword of Gryffindor

HRH walk to the nearly destroyed bridge, where Harry explains why the Elder Wand did not recognize Voldemort as its new owner; he then snaps it in two and tosses the pieces over the side as Ron and Hermione look on horrified